Shopping
by irmaida
Summary: When Peeta was seven, he went shopping with his older brother's girlfriend, experienced the worst torture of his life, and swore never to go shopping with a girl again. Fifteen years later, he goes shopping with Katniss Everdeen. Peeta/Katniss, modern day AU, oneshot.


_Shopping_

* * *

When Peeta was seven, he went shopping with his older brother's girlfriend, a chatty blonde named Cynthia Sugarplum, and experienced the worst torture of his life.

The day had begun normal enough. Other than the fact that business was surprisingly slow considering it was a Saturday, it was a completely normal day. Then his parents went out to buy some flour. Because it was a slow work day, and his oldest brother, Phil, was sixteen, he and his brothers had been left alone in the shop. His other brother, Andre, and Cynthia had been dating for around a month, so it wasn't too odd of an occurrence when Cynthia came into the bakery kitchen, kissed Andre on the cheek, and proceeded to chat with him.

Then his mother had come back with the flour. At the sight of Cynthia, she had growled—really _growled_—and proceeded to yell at her about disturbing work and how _dangerous_ it was to be in a kitchen unless you knew what you were doing, and demanded for Cynthia to leave. Peeta had thought it a bit mean, but his mother was always grouchy like that.

A poor frightened Cynthia had said, "Of course I'll leave, ma'am. I—I ought to go shopping anyways." Then, turning to Andre with a smile as sweet as her last name, "You want to go with me, Andre?"

To Peeta's surprise, his brother had paled and said, "Um, I have to do busy work in the bakery, very busy work—"

"Oh, just go off with her," their mother had snapped. "You never get any work done anyways."

"Um… well, Peeta should go!" his brother had blurted. "I mean, Cynthia's wanted quality time with him, _hasn't she_?"

"Actually—" Cynthia had begun to interrupt.

"_Hasn't she_?" his brother had desperately repeated.

"Can I go?" Peeta had foolishly asked, not knowing what torture was ahead. Cynthia was such a nice girl, and shopping at the mall all by themselves would be so grown up. Squealing at the curt nod he received from his mother, he had grabbed Cynthia's hand and offered a wide smile, which Cynthia had kindly returned.

As he left, he had been curious of one thing, however. Why hadn't his brother wanted to go shopping with Cynthia?

He would soon find out.

* * *

When they hit the first store, Peeta was feeling fairly well. Cynthia had seen a pair of pretty purple heels, squealed, tried them on, and checked the price, which was fairly reasonable. Peeta was sure that Cynthia was going to buy them, but she hadn't. Instead, she had left the store and gone to another. Peeta thought it a bit strange, but it _seemed_ harmless. It was the first sign that something horrible was going to happen.

They hit the next store, a large clothing store. They stayed there for an hour or so. For the first ten minutes or so, Peeta had been curious and enthralled. But after a while, Peeta got bored. Very bored. It seemed Cynthia was trying on the entire junior department! He checked his reflection, he stared at the people passing by, he tried to count the dots on the ceiling. Finally, to Peeta's immense relief, Cynthia announced that they would leave the store.

"What are you buying?" he asked.

"Nothing," she replied.

Something was very, very horrible was going to happen. Peeta was hungry and tired and his feet hurt and he was so _bored _and he wanted to get out of the store. But Cynthia was only getting started.

For another three hours, they tromped around the entire store, Cynthia trying everything on and squealing about how cute something was but never actually buying anything. Peeta began to get cranky and short tempered. But he was a polite boy, so he tried not to whine. Instead he tried to give out subtle hints. ("Wow, we've been here a while!" "Aren't you starting to get tired?") Cynthia was either ignoring him or simply didn't _get it_. Peeta strongly suspected it was the latter.

Finally, the pair went back to the first store they had gone to. Cynthia grabbed the pair of pretty purple heels that they had first seen, bought them, and took him home.

Peeta's jaw dropped. Girls, he decided, were insane.

He was never going to shopping with a girl again.

_Never _again.

* * *

Fifteen years later, Peeta was no longer the seven-year-old boy that had vowed to never shop with a girl again (although he had kept that vow), but rather, a young man in his last year of college, trying to enjoy his winter break, and sitting in a coffee shop with the girl he was head over heels in love with, Katniss Everdeen.

They made small talk as they drank their coffee. "It's getting cold nowadays," he commented, pointing at the snow outside.

"It is," Katniss commented, absentmindedly playing with her brown braid. "Hey, you want to go winter shopping with me?"

Uh oh. Peeta's tongue felt too thick for his mouth. Usually, when other girls—girlfriend or not—had asked him to go shopping with them, he had easily been able to shake his head and politely deny the request. But with Katniss, it was different—he wanted so desperately to please her, to stay in her good graces, to spend time with her—

"Uh, sure."

* * *

They agreed to meet at the local mall at twelve noon. By the time he arrived at the mall of the endless stores, he was starting to regret his impulse decision.

Katniss came, looking beautiful as usual in her hunting jacket and some wet gray sneakers. "Ugh," she says. "My feet are _freezing_. I seriously need to buy some new shoes." Then, noticing the huge backpack Peeta was sporting, she pointed and said, "What's that for?"

Peeta shrugged. "It's my Shopping Survival Pack." At Katniss's confused expression, he took the backpack off and opened it. "See, I have books, a game console and three game chips, potato chips, energy bars, water…"

Katniss laughed. "Peeta, it's just _shopping_. No big deal."

Peeta sighed. Of course Katniss thought that way. Wonderful as she was, she still was, after all, a girl.

* * *

At the first store they visited, Katniss spotted some winter boots in the window display, went in, and asked the manager for the shoes in her size. The manager, a plump woman with way too much lipstick, rushed to get her the boots. Katniss tried the boots on. They fit.

Meanwhile, Peeta reached for his Survival Pack and pulled out a book. He sighed at the shortness of the book. He would probably get through the book in two hours or less, and they would obviously be here much longer than that.

"Okay Peeta, let's go," she said, holding a bag in her hands. Peeta could see that the boots Katniss had tried on earlier were in the bag. Peeta thought it a bit strange, but it _seemed_ harmless. It was the first sign that with Katniss, shopping was different.

Still, he wasn't going to let his guard down so easily. "Go where?" he asked warily. "Which store?"

Katniss stared at him oddly. "What are you talking about, Peeta? Let's go home."

"You mean that's it?" he asked incredulously. "That's all the shopping you're going to do? Are you sure there's nothing else you have to do, like try on the entire juniors department at Macy's and then not buy anything?"

Katniss laughed. "Of course not! Why would I do something senseless like that?"

Peeta felt an overwhelming relief flood through him, warmth and appreciation and love for this wonderful girl that stood beside him.

"Want to go watch a movie?" he asked. "I'll pay for the popcorn." He had told his roommate that he would be gone for at least three hours, after all.

"Free popcorn with Peeta Mellark? Who could resist?" she asked with a brilliant smile.

And that was when Peeta knew, this was the girl he was going to marry.

* * *

For Zoe. Merry Christmas! I know this isn't my usual style (seriously, everything from the gray lines to the summary to the lighthearted mood), I suppose, but I hope you still enjoyed it!


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